As of 6/10/2015 I won't be updating this forum post anymore. To see a more cleaner, and updated version of the LFAQ, please instead go to the documentation HERE, under the FAQ's tab, where I will update information there instead. I will however, use the thread to update on changes that I've made.

Intended to supplement the official FAQ section, this is a compilation of Less-Frequently Frequently Asked Questions and their answers.

Let me know if: You have a better source for an answer. There are any questions that you think should be on here. (Preferably with the answer or link(s) to it ) You think that something could use better wording/phrasing/layout. (Again, preferably with a suggestion.)

Just because Singinsilence is not here does not mean this wont be updated still. As said above, post below if there is something in need of changing.

A good place to start, would be reading the (plentiful, basic and enormously useful) documentation available on The Median XL Homepage, or in wiki format at the Diablofans Diablowiki.

If you're looking for something more basic - introductory even - and newbie-friendly, check out Trucidation's Median XL wikis:on Wikia, or on Diii.net's wiki

The LFAQ will not answer the following questions. Reasons included.

Q: What character / build farms the best? A: Almost always prefaced by the words: "Hi guys, I'm new to the mod.", generally in 'I-can't-be-bothered-to-type' English. You have no idea how much that pisses me off.

Common sense says that before you worry about farming, you play one or two chars, not even necessarily all the way through, just to get an idea of how the game plays.

From experience, you can finish all the "normal" game, at level 120, as well as (at bare minimum) all of the 'Easy'-rated uberquests, without farming for items or Experience; with just the equipment you find / make, having played on /players 1.

Another thing: Median XL is not cLoD. Being a "Diablo pro" will do you little good in MXL. Some of the best items in the game are rares, or rare-based (read: Crafted items). Farming with your first character = you have no idea what items you're looking for, and you're guaranteed to overlook some good ones.

... You still want an answer? Fine. No problem. 1) Use the 'Search' function. 2) Type 'Best farm*' 3) ??? 4) Enjoy your (at the time of this posting) 1539 threads or 4504 posts dealing with the subject.

Now get the hell out of my LFAQ and come back when you're serious.

Q: What is the best character / build? A: The best build is the one that complements your play-style the best. Really.

Also, no character is *always* better then any other, let alone all others. Also, no build is *always* better then any other. (Let alone all others.)

Also, "best" is a fashion thing, a.k.a. Flavor of the Month. What answer you'll get depends on what's in vogue at any given time. It has nothing, necessarily, to do with which char / build is objectively better.

One of the things I, personally, love most about Median, is that, no matter how you allocate your skills, (almost) any build is "hell viable" as it were.

Q: Which class / build should I play / is most fun? A: Fun is subjective. This question has been asked many many times. 'Search', and you'll probably find a general play-style list.

Q: I'm playing a <Build X>, and I'm getting pwnt by <Monster Y> / can't kill <Monster Z> / am having trouble farming <Area A1> / etc. etc. etc.. How can I make my char better? A: Too specific a question. General answers are spread throughout the LFAQ and the MXL Bestiary (on a case to case basis), as well as various previous threads which have already asked the same questions.

Q: What's with all the blue text I'm seeing people write? A: Blue is the forum's Official Sarcasm color. Or, in simple English: Blue text = poster is being sarcastic.

Q: Where are the best places to level? A: It is the opinion of the author that, since you can get from level 1 to 120 during the course of a regular /players 1 game, before ever reaching Destruction ubers (because those are the only ones that count...), there is no need to grind/rush/powerlevel. Also, the fashionable Exp hotspots change.

Q: Where are the best places to farm [gold, rare, unique, sacred unique, set, runes, UMOs]? A: Read the Pearl of Wisdom. It lists the biased areas. Also:The Countess has a very high chance to drop runes. Bull Prince Rodeo has an assured MO drop. On top of which, his drop does have a UMO bias. (10% to drop UMO.) The Robot bosses in Fauztinville have an assured rune drop. That said, everyone in Destruction Fauztinville can drop Fauztinville Great Runes. (Taha, Qor, Ghal.) Likewise, everyone in Destruction Toraja can drop Toraja Great Runes. (Krys, Auhe, Sha'ad.)

Q: What is the maximum skill level of the skills in Median? A: Unlike cLoD, where skills had a limit of 20 points, achievable from level 21 on, in Median, the skill level limit scales with your character. The first 'tier' skill starts with a natural limit of 2. All skills increase their limit by 1 point for every 6 character levels.

{*1} Prior to Omega 001, there existed a fourth minigame: "They Have Windows in Hell". However, it was removed, and its bonus was added to the base class charm (so as not to invalidate existing ones). tl;dr- Source changed, total remains.

Separate and worth noting are skills/synergies that can increase the skill limit. These are: Paladin's Holy Melee skills to Lionheart, Light and Shadow to Scourge, the Druid's bow skills to Elfin Weapons, the Amazon's spear skills to Lioness, Necro-attack totems (they give each other +max skill), Ancient Blood to all Barb skills, as well as Shamanic Trance to the Ancestor Spirits and any other Stance to Kraken Stance.

Point of Interest: Even with +max skill limit synergies, you can't put more than 31 Hard Points into the 7-point-limit skills. (This is due to the hard coded limit of 'skill Hard Point max = Clvl - Reqlvl'.)

Q: What are Hard/Soft points? A: Hard Points = the points you get from a level up or as a quest reward (Tyrael...). In MXL you get 134 HP's (119 from level ups + 12 from quest rewards + 4 from the 'Dogma' actboss tokens). Put those points into a skill, and you are able to get the synergy or self synergy bonus.

Soft Points = Stuff you can get from Items or Charms (+3 to all Skills on an amulet or +1 on a ring etc...). Self-/Synergies do not benifit from Soft Points.

(This is because they're all 'dummy passives' and not truly synergies.)

Also, see 'Charges', in the Known Bug section.

General basics

Q: What exactly are the effects of the '/players #' setting? A: Affects the drop rates/difficulty of the game. This can be set by typing in chat /players 1-8.

Q: At what level should I do the Uber Quests? A: Scroll through the Pearl of Wisdom. It has a page with information for each Uber, as well as the recommended level for it.

Well no, it gives you the monster's level. But that's a not-bad indicator, depending on your /players and build / gear, of course.

Q: How many kinds of Signets exist? How do they work? A: Three of them, and the way of using them is pretty obvious, so please read the ingame description. Alternatively, though, you can put them in your belt to eat them.

Note: Only Signets of Learning count against the 500 Signet (of Learning) cap.

Q: I just finished Hatred/Terror, and my Leech stopped working! A: Leech penalties in cMXL are 1/4 in Hatred (25%), 1/25 (4%) in Terror, and 1/200 (0.5%) in Destruction.In MXL Ultimative they are halved for terror/destruction, so 1/12.5 (8%) in Terror and 1/100 (1%) in Destruction

Q: What are 'Legacy Items'? A: Items that are kept after a patch has changed them. Usually Unique/Set items that were underpowered/overpowered and have been edited. It is usually considered taboo using these items as gear suggestions for guides.

Vizjun and Brother Laz don't show up on the Pearl of Wisdom flippers. Also, this may or may not be accurate for 1.D9. I'm assuming it is.

%Gold Find (%GF), %Magic Find (%MF), MO and Socketable basics

Q: Do Minions/Mercenaries/Reanimates gain your %MF/%GF? A1: For the most part, yes. A2: Minions and Reanimates gain your %MF, Mercs gain your %MF/%GF + any they have on their equipment. This only counts if they are the ones who land the killing blow, though. Note: This does not work in reverse. You want it, you got to wear it.

Q: Does +%MF affect UMOs? Or Runes? A1: No. A2: +%MF increases your chance of finding magic+ quality items. UMOs however, despite their name, aren't actually a different quality then the regular ones. Likewise Runes. They aren't of magical+ quality, so %MF has no effect on their chance to drop. That comes only from the % each item-type has to drop in the monster's TC.

The only way to increase your chance of getting them is to use the Area with the appropriate Drop Bias.

Q: I used Mystic Orbs on an item. Now I want to do X/Y/Z to it. Will it keep the MOs? A: If whatever you're doing says that it will reroll the item, then no. Otherwise yes.

Q: Can I remove MOs from an item? A: Not directly. That said..: Any cube recipe that rerolls an item will 'remove' the MOs, but it'll have rerolled the item. MOs applied to a RW get removed when you unsocket it. Otoh, MOs applied to the base item don't.

Q: I socketed Gems / Jewels / Runes in an item. Now I want to do X/Y/Z to it. Will it keep them? A: As above. Iirc the only recipes that will keep the socketables in an item is cubing with an MO, and the 'lucky upgrade'. UNSOCKET the item first, unless you don't mind losing its socketables.

Q: Can I make Runewords from Magic/Rare/Crafted/Honorific/unique items? A: NO. As the official FAQ says, Non-magical items only. This means any low quality/normal/superior or non-magical Ethereal/Superior Ethereal items.

Q: Does the 'Stun Attack' modifier on my item work with Skill X? A:

-For direct melee:Stun attack as an item modifier works. Also - to the best of my knowledge - any buffs that grant Stun length (e.g. Hamstring) will stack with Stun Attack on weapon.

-For any kind of ranged attack:Stun attack as an item modifier does not work. However, if a ranged skill has Stun, e.g. Blindside, Stampede, Soulshatter, Thunder Slam, etc., its Stun will work as advertised.

-% Enemy Resist? A: Resist cap out at -100%. Anything beyond that is pointless. (i.e. If a monster has 0% res, you need -100% to reach the limit. If -50%, another -50% will get you there. If 99% (i.e. Highest non-immunity possible), you'll need -199% to hit the floor.)

Slow(s Enemy)? A: Against: regular monsters: 95%, Bosses/Players: 50%. Also, a single source of slow is capped at 90% for monsters. If you apply the same type of slow twice, the one you applied last is the one that counts.

Where and how does Cold Slow (a.k.a. Chill) fit in? A1: In Median XL, Chill is always 50% slow, for as long as the Chill lasts. It stacks with other kinds of slow. So, for example, 'Void' + cold damage = (40% slows target + 50% chill =) 90% slow, while target's chilled.

Q: Does poison damage stack? A: No. The attack with the highest damage per second (DPS) is applied. That said, the direct poison damage (zero-frame or first-frame poison damage) does stack on top of the DOT.

Curse Length Reduction? A1: 100%, which makes you immune to Curses. There is no difficulty penalty. Source, and thanks to Chikyo_Chagi for pointing out that this was missing.

Note: Not all Curse / Debuff stats are affected by this item modifier. (e.g. Slow, Death Touch, etc. To the best of my knowledge, if it isn't healed by the Town Healer / a well, it's unaffected by CLR.)

Q: Does the damage cap exist in all versions of Diablo 2? A1: It exists in all versions 1.09+, except 1.10. Pre 1.09, idk.

Q: OMG what happened?! I started a game. My life/mana was filling up, and suddenly it's empty and won't fill! A: You've managed to gain over 2^15 or 32768 HP/mana. The visual display rolled over and is showing only the amount over 32768, and you'll see the full orb when you go under that amount. Note however, that although there's no problem here with HP, the client considers you to only have the amount of mana over 32768. So, if you have 33768 mana, you can only cast spells/skills with a mana cost lower then 1000.

If you drop back under 32768 mana, you will see (and be able to use) your full (current) mana pool.

Note: If you're rolled over your Life or Mana, report to Brother Laz/MarcoNecroX. Thank you, and have a good day.

Q: So what's the difference between +%ED and +%EWD? A1: +%ED increases your weapon's base damage, whereas +%EWD increases your *total* physical damage. A2: They affect different parts of the damage calculation. +%ED is part of the first half of the above formula, which is your weapon's base damage. +%EWD is part of the second half of the formula, which multiplies your total base damage.

Q: So are +5% EWD Mystic Orbs better than +15% ED Mystic Orbs? A:As a rule, a low percentile bonus on a large base is more effective then a large percentile bonus on a small base. e.g. 100 + 5000% = 5,100 <as opposed to> 5000 + 100% = 10,000.

Bottom line: It depends on your base damage. If it's low, +%ED will probably be the better choice. Once it's high (depending on how high 'high' is), +%EWD becomes the more beneficial.

Dual Wielding

Q: When dual wielding, what effects from my boot-side (henceforth 'off-hand') weapon do I get with my glove-side (henceforth 'main') weapon? A: Depends what skill you're using. For any non-dualwield skill

Q: Can I stack potions of Healing/Mana? What does this do? A: Not anymore. This used to work, but potions were changed (in 2012) for the sake of balance.

Before this you could: The duration of the potions was added together, and worked with Mercs too. .

Q: Can I stack Elixirs? A: Yes, but only 1 Elixir can be active at a time. Drinking another of the same will stack its duration - just like any other potion - but drinking a different one will overwrite the previous one. Note: This is true of Mercs too.

Q: What does Next Delay mean? A1: When hit by an attack/skill with next delay, the target cannot be hit by another ND skill until # frames have passed. A2: For a list of ND on skills, see the Skill Next Delay List, below.

Q: How does the engine resolve an attack? A: In this order: If the attack requires an AR check, roll AR vs Def. Then, If the attack does Physical damage: % chance to block. Then, {*1} Avoid is rolled (for anything that doesn't ignore it.)

The damage is then 'applied' to your HP. If it's more than 1/12, Hit Recovery triggers. {*2} % when struck, if Physical damage, and % when take damage. (Order: Unsure.) life/mana when struck (if physical)

Re: Berserk A defense of 0 will let you block all the time, thus quite often hinder you from doing anything else. Consider not wearing a shield.

Last edited by Segolia on Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:04 pm; edited 21 times in total

Q: I've tried the 'Lucky Upgrade' recipe 12309874 times already, but it never works! A: That's because the whether an item is 'Lucky' or not is decided when the item is created. The recipe merely 'reveals' whether it is or isn't. If the item was created 'Not Lucky', it doesn't matter how many times you try, it'll never work.

Reroll the item, and try again.

Q: %ED on items is capped at 350%. How do I pass it? A: For a magic+ quality item: +%ED socketables. For Runewords: Here's how to get over 350% enhance defense on an item. I'll use Truce as an example.

6) Make runeword. Aim for the top end ED%, in this case 350, if low unsocket and try again. (265 + 350 = 615% ED)

Note: +%ED/lvl, such as on the 'Dragonheart' RW armor, is additive with %ED, and doesn't count against the 350% ED limit.

Q: Why do you have to MO items before RW'ing them? Doesn't it work if you don't? A: You have to add the MOs before hitting 350%, else they do nothing. This is because MO's add to the properties of the base item, and the runeword is in a sense a "second base item". Thus, both the base item and the runeword are capped at 350% ED, so theoretically you could have a 700% ED runeword. Theoretically. (Note that, at this time, that isn't actually possible, due to rlvl > 120)

Q: At what ilvl can the 'indestructible' modifier spawn on a jewel? A: 21+ (Used to be 21-60, but the upper cap has been removed.)

Q: What? I can't cube my unique jewelry? (Ring of Five, Assur's Bane) A: Because as far as the engine is concerned, They aren't actually rings{*1}. (Read: They don't use the 'rin' item-type.) So Cube recipes that work for 'rin' items won't work with them.

For this reason, you can't use the 'lucky' recipe on them. 'Any item' MOs don't work on them either.

{*1} (They aren't 'rin' so that they drop only in Duncraig, and to assure that Duncraig isn't flooded with unique-rings dropping all the time.)

Q: What can / can't I do to ethereal items with the cube? A: Due to the eth bug, no cube recipe that returns the same item ('useitem') with modified properties will work with ethereals. They've all been disabled. This means: * No MOs. * No lucky. * No Socket-drill.

Reroll works (but won't return as ethereal). Unsocket works. Larzuk can still drill holes in an ethereal item.

Q: Is there a way to choose which unique ring/amulet I'll get from the 'unique creation' recipe? A1: Sadly, no. A2: The problem with jewels, uniques, and rings is that they have multiple overlapping uniques that spawn off those base items. The output of the recipe appears to be at least level 100. As a result anything with a level req of level 100 or below could spawn at random from the unique creation recipe when used on jewels, rings, and amulets.

Proc / %CtC & oSkill related

Q: What procs / oSkills can I get? A: See Resource links for a list of oSkills and procs available on prefab items, and a list of oSkills that spawn on magic / rare / crafted items. Note however, that different procs also exist as random modifiers.

Q: Is there any way in increase the power of procs? A: Yes. A proc is cast as if you are casting the spell/skill at that level. Any bonuses it would get were it a skill, it will also get as a proc. (read: Synergies if available, +% spell damage, Energy, Energy Factor, -%enemy resists, clvl.)

Q: Do oSkills benefit from '+to all Skills'? A: Yes. Any oSkill will benefit from +taS.

Q: Will character oSkills benefit from '+ to <class> skills'? A: I know that this used to be the case. Therefore, since the mechanic hasn't (can't, without Code Editing) changed afaik, they still should. But I haven't checked recently.

Q: Can more than one %CtC to proc from a single trigger-event? A: Yes.

Passive Damage Sources related

Q: How does +%<element> damage affect the 'added +#-## <element> damage' item modifier? (e.g. Way of the Phoenix grants both bonuses.) A:For a direct melee swing, it does just what it says it does. For a ranged attack of any kind, it does nothing.

Q: Is there any way to increase the elemental damage of my attack? A: Use attacks with a high Weapon Damage Modifier. Passive damage sources are multiplied by it, just like any other damage. Beyond that -For melee only, +%<element> damage will work. For both melee and ranged:

1) Adding more +#-## <element> will stack with what you already have.

2) Using the appropriate '-%<element> enemy resist' will increase the damage you do (to non-immunes), but is not accounted for on the LCS.

3) If the elemental damage comes from a skill (Way of the ____, Snake / Kraken Stance, Death's Fury Totem, etc.) +skills will increase the skill level, and so the added damage.

* I'm not sure about OW on explosions. * There are no cLoD style traps in Median. All traps are considered 'Spell'. * Post-fix SoR as missile

Freeze / Blind related

Note: Cold Lengths are reduced by 1/2 in Terror, and 3/4 in Destruction difficulty. So your 20 second freeze will only net you 10 seconds in Terror, and 5 in Destruction. (As opposed to the full 20 in Hatred.)

Q: When exactly are “+ Blinds Attacker” and “+ Freezes Attacker” triggered? When they feel like it? :/ A1: Despite the item modifier says “Attacker”, the truth is that they only work against enemies that successfully strike you in melee and melee only, ranged attackers and casters will be utterly ignored.

Q: Is it possible to get Sets / Sacred Uniques with the Chaos Reroll recipe? A1: Let's just say 'no'. A2:

You can't get SU or set items from chaos reroll. This post was in M2008 but is still accurate. I also tried to chaos reroll a light plated boots from K3KBA in MXL, and I got a double durability magic item.

Q: What does the "increases Nova Charge scatter radius" item modifier do? A: It means the novas are spawned at a potentially greater distance from the character.

The advantage is that if a nova spawns further away from the monster, you lose a slight bit of damage, but if it spawns closer to the monster, you gain a lot of extra damage, so the net result is positive for monsters further away from the centre.

Q: Can I use Curse X and Curse Y together? Do they stack? A: First of all: Differentiate between Auras, Buffs and Curses. (Different) Auras and buffs stack with themselves, with each other, and with a Curse. (e.g. VA's aura, Hymn, Lionheart and Vindicate will all work together.) The only question is about Curses. Second: Slow is not a curse, so no problems there. Third: afaik there's no list of which curses work together and which don't. If both graphics appear, then they work together. Otherwise not.

The curses are separated into groups. Curses in the same group will overwrite each other; will not stack. Note: The following list is outdated, though (probably) not changed. Vindicate, Doom (*1), Hex, Banish, Retribute, Shower of Rocks (*1), Sunburn, Eagle Dive, Rust Storm

(*1) As per this post, stardragon12-1-8-27-57-52 shows that Hunter's Mark and SoR's curse stack.

Q: I can't find the 'Wyrd' skill. A: You get it from Mystic Orbs. They are buyable from Akara in Act I. Drognan in Act II. Asheara in Act III. Halbu in Act IV. Larzuk in Act V.

Q: What does Supermax (or sMax for short) mean? I keep seeing it in guides. A: As opposed to 'Max', which merely means investing in a skill until you reach its natural skill limit, sMax means adding points over the natural limit with '+max skill level' items or synergies.

Q: What triggers 'on Attack' procs? A: On Attack triggers every time you swing a melee weapon at an enemy. (Swinging in the air does nothing.) Bows and throwing skills don't trigger 'on Attack'. Note:Apparently, non-'Normal Attack' skills require a successful AR check.

Q: What triggers 'on Striking' procs? A: On Striking triggers any time you actually hit a Monster with a weapon-damage carrying attack. This includes multi-hits from skills like Retaliate, Wychwind, Faerie Fire, etc.

Q: What triggers 'on Kill' procs?. A: Weapon carrying attacks or poison attacks that take more than 1 frame to kill their target.

Q: What triggers 'when You Take Damage' procs? A: Like it says. This includes anything other than damage over time from poison or life drain.

Q: What triggers 'when Attacked' procs? A: Any melee attack, regardless of whether it hits or misses or you dodge it.

Skill X Doesn't Work!

Q: I'm playing a Spearazon/have a +Lioness charm, and I can't cast spells/use skill X! A: Lioness, irrespective of how you get it, disables any ranged skills and spells, only allowing the use of Melee, Buff and Summoning skills.

Q: Hey! I just got Shadow Avatar oskill on my power trip spearzon and she can cast it! Lol! I’m da king now! A: ... In any case, you’d be the queen, don’t you think? Meh, however. Yes, that happens and it’s not a bug, Shadow Avatar ignores that restriction just like some other special skills do, those are: Purify, Dark Summoning, Shackles of Ice, Blood Flash and the teleporting skills (Blink, Jitan’s Gate, Divine Apparition and Bend the Shadows).

Protip: If you're using a bow/crossbow and get into that state, you can still use ranged skills by switching to regular attack, which isn't locked. Why isn't it locked? Because basic attack switches between being a ranged skill and a melee one depending on your weapon type, this is unfixable there isn't a way to make D2 know when it must lock it out and when it mustn't. If you're going to profit from this, be careful so that you won't use up your ammo.

Q: My Barbarian Spirits / MO summons / Edyrem (/ Totems) don't follow me! A: It's not a Bug, it's a Feature. Due to an issue with Blizzard's minion AIs, the only AIs that can use more then 1 skill simply don't follow you.

Note: They will move to engage any enemies they see. Drag one toward them, and they'll move.

Note: Once these static (non Totem, duh) summoned creatures engage combat, they have the tendency of going on moving randomly across the screen, even if there is no nearby target. They don’t exactly follow you, but they do move a bit.

Q: My Prowl/Angel of Death don't work! A: Like cLoD Charge, you need to have a 'running start' to use it. Trying in melee range will simply do a normal attack, however, any damage enhancement coming from the skill itself (read: AR%, ED%... Anything but the poison damage) will still affect your regular melee swing if you try it in melee range.

Protip: Holding down Alt + Shift will let you Prowl/AoD monsters even in melee range, but they will not work while you have an item namelocked.

Q: How do autotargeting skills work? They instantly start shooting at anything within range, but how do they react to multiple enemies? A: When an autotargeting skill is activated (e.g. Cascade - on shooting, Lemures - on 'Armed' re-target) it instantly scans the area within it’s attack radius from the upper left corner to the lower right one. The first enemy it “sees” is the one chosen as victim and attacked. However, sometimes the client decides that it should attack something else and shows an aberrant animation which has little or nothing at all to do with what’s really going on. Also read next question please.

Q: Whenever I use a skill with a timer it locks any other timered skill! Why is this happening? A0: The game hates you. A1: The use of any timered skill automatically locks any other timer skill. Also, the running timer length is applied to all timered skills, even if their own is lower. Eg: You use Dark Summoning, which has a 30 seconds timer. Then you want to use Blink, which has a much shorter timer. You won’t be able of using Blink until those 30 seconds pass.*

*However, you can use an Elixir of Adrenaline to cancel the running timer. NB: Remember that the passive skill Premeditation only works on skills in the Assasin trees. Even if a timered oskill comes from Assasin only gear, it won’t be affected.

Q: But the timers are too long! They make skills useless! A: Most timered skills have a built-in way of reducing the timer, be it via Hard Points synergies or simple skill level. Note that some skills won’t reach zero timer, never. Timered oskills are usually between those.

Q: If a timered skill has reached zero timer, is it normal that it still gets locked when I use a skill which does have a timer? A: Sadly, the game’s being a little piggish here. There’s a display bug with skills whose timer is under 3 frames duration, the game doesn’t show the timer, but it does exist and lock as usual until it hits zero frames. Needless to say, skills with real zero frames timer won’t lock out any other, nor will be locked when you use another timered skill.

What does Skill X do?

Q: Can I use Bacchanalia / Witch Blood to increase the power of my oSkills/procs? A1: Sadly no. A2: Those strange spell damage things require coding for each skill they affect, because they are just pretty synergies. Making them work like true +% spell damage would be nice, but of course (of course €$àç%) passives don't update properly.

Note: They do affect procs of your class' skills

Q: My "Wedding Dress of the Zann" (tiered Unique Ceremonial Armor) has +#-## Moon Queen, but I don't see it in my skills. What is it? A: It's similar to the Amazon Passive of the same name. It grants Increased Attack Speed, %Enhanced Damage. And like the Amazon passive, all the bonuses work on all weapons.

Note, however, that coming from a charm or as an oSkill (read: soft points), the %EWD and %ED remain constant. Note, as of 1.D9, Moon Warrior also grants +Life on Kill from hard points. As an oSkill, you don't get that.

Q: What is that red aura under my/monster's feet? A: It's Demon Blood Aura. It gives 28%-51% max life, depending on your clvl (28% at level 1, 51% at 120), as well as +4*clvl liferegen and +3% elementaldamage/slvl.

Q: What is the 'Amazing Grace' item modifier? It appears on every Paladin-specific spear, as well as a few other items. A: It grants you 5% chance to cast on-attack a kind of immunity shield: 100% avoid for 1.2 seconds. Its graphic effect is Fade + a blue 'firehit' animation. Like all other immunity shields, it does not benefit from B/D/C modifiers.

Q: What's that Town Portal thingy on Nihlathak's minion? OMGWTF! It just 1-shotted me! A1: What you just experienced was Rathma's Chosen, a Necromancer Uberskill which grants invulnerability to all damage (except damage over time), as well as 25k-50k magic damage/slvl.

Q: What is Elemental Guide? A: It's an Ice-elemental version of Spirit Guide. It grants (40% + 10%/slvl) %ED to anyone in a 6.6 yard radius. It is worth noting that this overrides their own aura that yields 3/2 Defense and 25% DR (requires 1 hard point). Note:

the source UMO (HoF) can only give you up to +7 to EG on a single item, further applications do rise other modifiers but this one.

Not a bug. This is due to savebit-limit.

Q: I had UA/SA active but I died! What's going on? The documentation says that it provides an invulnerability shield! A: UA/HA doesn't actually make you invulnerable. It 'merely' grants 50k damage reduction. There are some special attacks that can pierce its damage reduction, e.g. Death Projector, Crystal Ball, Astrogha's Frozen orb. Anything that does more then 50k damage will still kill you.

Also, it doesn't ignore poison damage / Life Degeneration / Damage over Time (such as Duriel's Exorcism), so you should take care about high-damage poison attacks since they can lower your HP even to 1 point (for Poison / Life Degen), which means you're nearly dead as soon as the UA/HA duration ends, or just kill you (for Damage over Time, i.e. Exorcism).

Q: Why is the listed damage of Shatter the Flesh so low? A1: Because it hits 8 times, instantly. So to get your actual damage, check the skill description or multiply the LCS-listed damage * 8.

Q: How does Trinity (the Amazon Bow Devotion) work? A1: Like it says. If your attack does #-## <element> damage, it adds its bonus to the max-damage.

Q: Which is more effective in late game: Nova charge or Hive? A: They're different. NC will do serious damage at close range, but you need to keep an enemy within range to have it do damage and it isn't effective at longer distances. Hive needs to be applied only once (and will do the same damage regardless of distance) and then ticks away for X seconds, making it much more effective for cowards and ranged characters who can do a hit and run or just loiter near enemies and reliably poison them. The downside is that it does less damage per second than NC at full blast.

Q: Skills that convert damage to <element>, will +%<element> spell damage increase the converted damage? A: No. A2: The only way to increase a percentile-based's damage is to increase what it's a percentile of. (In this case: Your damage.) The same is true for Feedback spells, where you need to increase your life/mana as required. N.B. Using the appropriate '-enemy resist' will increase the damage done by the converted portion.

Q: How is Fortress with Stances treated by MXL? Is it treated as a spell? Is it treated as a minion? Is it treated as a ranged attack? Would it benefit from poison duration? A: Fortress is basically a complicated missile chain. The towers are actually immobile missiles, just like Bloodstorm. As such, they are considered a "spell". Stances don't affect them but since stances affect YOU, Fortress does benefit from stances. Similarly, Bloodstorm benefits from your own Bloodlust.

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First things first: * Hirelings (a.k.a. mercs) are not affected by any of the '+% <Minion Stat>' item modifiers. They do, however, benefit from any +%resists on their equipment. * Totems are not affected by any of the '+% <Minion Stat>' item modifiers. The Totems do, however, inherit your %spell damage, -%enemy resist, and total Energy Factor, * Reanimates are not affected by any of the '+% <Minion Stat>' item modifiers. * Minions cannot become elementally immune from the '+%minion resists' item modifier. (*1) They can become immune with the addition of auras/buffs/etc. * Note: Assassin's Bat(strike) Familiars are the exception to this rule. They can become elementally immune from +% 'minion resist' gear only; even on Destruction difficulty. It's a unique feature of theirs.

(*1) slvl 5+ minions can become elementally immune in Hatred with 25% from items and in Terror (as of MXL 1.A9 (*2)) with 75% from items . Note, however, that this immunity is invisible, and won't show up on the minion. Minions under slvl 5 are trickier, so I'm not going into that

Point of Interest: In D2, versions 1.10+, Minions are not affected by your /players setting. That said, monsters spawned on /p8 do keep the life (and damage & %AR on Terror / Destruction) bonus when Resurrected via Paladin Uberskill.

Q: If I have several different ReAnimates, am I limited to 1 ReAnimate per kill? A: No. Every kill will roll (check if it triggered or not) all of your %Reanimates. However, a Reanimation uses up a corpse. So, to quote Prometheus: If you had twenty 10% reanimates, you could get every single one of them from a single kill... but only if there were twenty corpses around... If more than one roll "succeeds", a nearby corpse will spit out a reanimate and explode. If there aren't enough nearby bodies, you won't get a reanimate.

Q: How do +%Minion Damage and +%ED buffs interact? Are they additive or multiplicative? A: Contrary to what I previously though, apparently additive.

Q: Does %minion damage/%minion health have a cap, or can you just keep adding it up? A: Minion life is always uncapped, but minion damage is generally capped at 2k. This is base damage which is ONLY based on slvl; %miniondamage will then heighten this 2k further, as will any spells that increase damage.

Note: Barbarian Spirits have capped Life as well. Shamanic Trance adds obscene amounts of %minion life, and even now they roll over (seems to occur between 135 and 145k).

Q: How are minions affected by the difficulty-based penalty to resists? A: Exactly the same way you are. Resists per difficulty are 0/-50/-100.

That said...

Q: What are the minions' base resists? A: Every minion gains +15% to all resistances per skill level, capping at +75% at level 5. Items with +% minion resists, as well as curses with -% resists, are applied at the end. Totems are the exception, they have 0% base resists at all levels and difficulties, and do not benefit from +% minion resists. Lower Resist affects them, though.

Q: What are the minions' max resists (without buffs / auras)? A: +75% minion resists, will get you to the item-mod cap. This means that (assuming level 5+ minions): In Hatred with +0% minion resists, minions have 75% resists. In Hatred with +75% or more minion resists, minions have 150% resists. In Terror with +0% minion resists, minions have 25% resists. In Terror with +75% or more minion resists, minions have 100% resists. In Destruction with +0% minion resists, minions have -25% resists. In Destruction with +75% or more minion resists, minions have 50% resists.

Q: Is it just me or my Shadowfiends not getting affected by any aura/most of buffs?! A: It’s just you, they do get affect, but they don’t get the animation because of bein' too cool for it.

Prebuffing

Q: If I stack +skills / spell damage / +minion <stat>, cast a long duration buff / summon a minion and then take them off / swap weapon, will the spell / minion keep the bonuses? A: For the most part, yes, since minion stats and (most) buff effects are determined when the minion is created / buff is cast.

This is called 'Prebuffing'.

There are a couple of exceptions, though.

The exceptions are Hive and Nova Charge, Queen of Blades, Beacon, Liche Form and Vessel of Judgement.

They will keep the +skills (used for calculating duration) and +buff duration you used when you cast the skill (your prebuff gear), but their damage, on the other hand, is determined when the missiles are created, so they'll inherit your "regular" gear's %spell damage and +skills. As well, VoJ won't keep prebuffed-L&S bonuses.

Also, see next.

Q: So I did that, and all my extra minions (or oSkill minions) die! A: This is another exception. Minion stats are determined when the minion is created. Minion quantity, on the other hand, is updated every so often; most particularly when you cast a buff / swap equipment. And 'excessive' minions that you have will be unsummoned when this happens. In the case of oSkill minions, your 'natural' amount is 0, so...

This is known as the "Unowned Skill Summon Bug".

Note: Interestingly, having +skills will allow you to keep specific minions for a short (~30 sec) while longer.

Q: Umm, I just put some signets of experience/gold/learning on my belt and used shift+ 1/2/3/4 to make my merc eat them. It doesn't work. Fix plz. A: ... You know, the game didn’t let you simply drop them in the merc’s portrait for a reason, they don’t work, they’re not suposed to work. And however, why would you give spendable stat points/gold to your merc? The only usable ones would be the experience ones and helping a merc to level up a bit isn’t worth the effort of trying to make D2 understand it and getting it to work.

Pet Commands

Q: What gets affected by Pet Commands? A: Only charmed monsters and reanimates without auras are affected, not your minions / hireling / party despite the graphic on them.

Q: Djiin, Ifrit! I get hit. I get teleported. The world explodes in Lightning or Fire (respectively) and I die. What gives? A: They tell you about the teleportation in their description. See that swirling thing under your feet? That's what they don't tell you about. It's one of the Assassin's time bomb. 3 seconds. MOVE!

Q: Gargoyles! (Stone Hammer Demons / Stone maul Demons) I hit them. They hit me. The usual. Then I'm suddenly buried in an avalanche! ARG~! A: They have a chance to cast multiple Showers of Rocks (as the Barbarian skill) when they hit you. These SoRs create an 'impact zone' shadow on the floor. Once you see that, you have a ~2 second delay before they land. Don't just stand there like an ogre. Bob and weave, you fool.

Q: Cruciators / Trap Rats! Cruci-what? Who cares about the small ones! They're cute and shoot fire knives! Better tell me why the big ones are harpoon-shooter machineguns and how to not get wtfmurdered!! A: About Trap Rats, well, note that they're stationary and that once they spot you, you'll see they start "looking" at you, doing nothing. That's their dreaded "stare of pwnage", it lasts like 2 secs until a flurry of giant spines is shot. If you feel like you can give them a beating, go on right when you spot them, if you usually fight in melee you'll possibly be used to tank strong attacks and will deal with them in no time. Remember that they come in packs of 4-5 and that Malah has an unlimited health potion store. For casters, use the kind of tricky magicks you prefer, no caster that can kill other Act 5 elites will have too much trouble with these. Same for ranged characters. Summoners may want to ignore them or (OMG) waste 2-3 mins of their time for their mobs to kill them. Avoid using magic element damage, don't stand on a place too long. You'll be fine.

Now for the less obvious answers. * Flawless/Perfect Bloodstones in any armor except shields will increase your maximal fire resist by 1%/2% each, respectively, as well as granting a large resistance bonus, as will Rubies in shields. Gemwords make even better use of this, since you can use resist jewels (for example) as well.

* It's a damage per frame skill, so the amount of damage each hit deals is actually rather low. If you have a source of +# Fire Absorb or # Magic Damage Reduction, this will help alot. (Angelfire hits 25 times per second. The reduction is applied to *each and every* hit, giving you a 2500% higher benefit then the listed value.)

Note: This actually works. Unlike most per-frame attacks, Angelfire does not use the MDR 1/25 effect code added to Firewall et. al.

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Q: Can I remove immunities from enemies? A: You can use resistance reducing skills (*1) to remove an immunity off an enemy. These skills do however only work at 1/5 effectiveness if the target is immune. Items with -x% to Enemy [Element] Resistance do not break immunities by themselves, but can be used to further reduce an enemy's resistance after the immunity has been removed with a skill. Note that if an enemy is completely immune to all elements, this is usually an uberquest enemy and there is a trick to killing it. Consult the description of the uberquest.

(*1) The only such skills in Median XL as of 1.Z9 are the Assassin's Phase Bomb uberskill (which reduces enemy elemental resist by a listed amount), the Amazon's Spellbind Ennead skill (breaks Physical immunities; has -50% Enemy DR.) and the Starbreaker SU Mace which has 2% slv1 Starfire on attack (-5% elemental resists).

As of either Omega or 2012 (cannot remember), The Druid skill Mythal also can remove immunes.

Q: I have -9835a76r214% enemy <element> resist, but it's still immune!!! A: Uh huh. Now READ the previous answer.

Q: How does the '-%<element> enemy resist' item modifier work? A: It is not a debuff. It is not an aura. It is a part of the damage calculation, and as such is counted only when damage by the person wearing it is rolled.

Aside from the Necro Attack-totems, no one 'inherits' your -% resist, so any of it that you have on your equipment will only benefit any damage that is considered yours. In other words, what benefits: Your +<element> damage to weapon. Your <Element>-damage spells. Your attack totems

Necro attack totems are a special case, in that they do inherit your -% resist, despite being minions.

What does not benefit: Anyone's Minions. Anyone's Hirelings. (Unless the hireling is the one wearing the -%resist, in which case it benefits, you don't.) Any Reanimates. (Any elemental damage from) your Team-mates.

That being the case, any source of elemental damage to the affected target is increased.

Drop Bias related:

Q: Do drop bias affect only Destruction difficulty? Or do I have a greater chance to find rares/uniques/etc. also in Hatred and Terror? A: As a rule: Yes, the drop bias works in all difficulties. The exception is the MO drop from Bull Prince Rodeo, and of course the sacred bias in Duncraig / Set bias in K3K.

Q: Do all the monsters in Destruction Fauztinville and Toraja have a chance to drop Great Runes, or just the bosses? A: Every monster can drop Great Runes.

Q: Do mercenaries hired at lower levels gain better stats? A: No. No matter what you may have heard until now, the level at which the merc is hired is completely irrelevant. What does matter is the difficulty in which it was originally hired. A merc hired in Hatred has better stats than the same type of merc hired in Terror, and a merc hired in Terror has better stats than the same type of merc hired in Destruction.

Q: How can I stop those @#(&% bosses from regenerating? A: For Heroic Bosses: UPGRADE to 1.95 ALREADY!

For Dark Star Dragon (for example): There are three ways:

The "Prevent Monster Heal" mod. It prevents all monsters from regenerating. Available as part of the Nightmare curse (oSkill, proc / %ctc, and cast by Priests of Rathma) and as part of the Void Archon's Warp Field aura. Poison. Monsters do not regenerate while poisoned. Once the poison wears off, however, they start regenerating again. Open Wounds. Being affected by open wounds automatically sets the monsters' regeneration rate to a negative value.

Also note that these methods only negate natural regeneration. Things such as healing spells (e.g Akarat) will work as usual with Poison and OW. PMH does negate healing spells, though.

Corpse issues

Q: I know that in Terror and Destruction difficulty when I am killed I lose a part of my experience depending of the difficulty level. Can I recover some of this experience? A: Yes, you can, but you must recover your corpse before you Save and Exit. You recover a portion of the experience lost, per corpse. If you quit and save the game, you can recover the most valuable corpse (in terms of money) and its gear but not your lose experience.

Q: How many corpses can I have at a time? A: Up to 16 corpses at a time. If you lose more corpses, no new corpse are created.

Q: Hey, when I die and I had an oskill coming from my gear, I keep it without having that gear piece! A: It’s a bug. When you die, sometimes the character thinks that he still has those oskills and will be able to use them. However, it happens kinda randomly, so loading on oskill gear and dying won’t let you profit from that bug. Oh, also the skills disappear when you put some new gear piece on Also there’s an even wierder version of this bug: Sometimes when you die with an oskill stance on, you’ll respawn in town with regular attack mapped under the rmb, but with that stance overlay and effects fully applied. Still, once you change to some other skill the bug fixes by itself and the stance disappears.

Q: Umm, what the heck goes on in Bremmtown? I mean, if I attack by holding shift I don't hit anything, and if I try to dash with my attack skill in the rmb, I just get to the monsters and then I don't attack!! A: Actually, what happens is that Howling Spirits have both a very small footprint ("physical" space the monster takes) and a extremely long melee attack range, this makes them pretty hard to target and hit with some melee skills, as well as it stops you from dash-killing. This is NOT a bug, you actually have aim at stuff and attack, not just clicking and holding until everything dies.

Q: How do I trade items with other people? A: There are 2 ways to go about trading: 1) Direct person-to-person, in game. 2) Indirect, by sending a save (.d2s) file.

Trading in-game is intuitive, so this is an explanation for option #2.

Method #1: Create a new character. Give this character whichever items you are trading.

Method #2: Create a new character. Put whichever items you are trading in this char's Private Stash.

Then either: Send an e-mail with the <charname>.d2s for method #1, or <charname>.d2x for method #2, as an attachment, (Or you can dcc it via most chat programs, but that's more complicated.) or: Go to a file hosting site*, Upload the file, receive link. Send this link to whomever you're trading with. (They download the file, and move the items off the character you sent.)

*e.g. Rapidshare-type. Commonly people use zippyshare.com, since it requires no registration/hassle.

Cautionary tip: If you're using Method #1 and PlugY, remember that the last page you had open is saved as the character's stash in the .d2s

Method #2 doesn't have this problem.

Q: My framerate is only around 5-10 fps, what should I do?!? A: Please download a Glide Wrapper , set it up and start playing. N.B.: YMMV

Q: After installing the Glide Wrapper, D2 decides that instead of starting up, it's just gonna do a workout of random characters in the upper left corner of my monitor for about 5 minutes, and then it gets the hint and starts up. How do I whip it into shape? A: This is a bug with the Glide Wrapper and Vista. To fix it, go to your Diablo 2 folder, right click on "game.exe", and go to properties. Go to the compatibility tab, and check "Disable Desktop Composition". You are now good to go.

Game Crashes:

Q: In multiplayer, every time I try to Save and Exit, or even in mid-game, I crash out with a "You have been Disconnected" message (other players see "(Playername)'s carrier pigeon was eaten by a hawk"), and all my character progress (and newly gained items!) are lost! T_T A: You have too many items in your PlugY personal and shared stashes. Diablo 2 can only save files less than (I believe) 8k total at exit. If you're crashing, and items aren't saving, either throw some items out, or temporarily remove your shared stash. Note that this bug only exists for TCP/IP games.

Alternatively, there's another solution - just type /save and wait about a full minute before S+E'ing. PlugY will save the file.

Q: The game keeps crashing! A:1) If you get an error message with a 'line #<number>', use the 'Search' function. The answers to the most frequent ones are on the forum. 2)Koiu Lpoi wrote:If you're on the English US version of the game, download QuickSFV, and install it. Then get this and this, put them in your Diablo 2 directory, and run them. This will check to make sure all your Diablo II files aren't corrupted in some way.

doesn't check d2char.mpq and d2sfx.mpq, because those are where the CD-keys are stored, and thus are different for each install. Thanks, Blizzard.

Now, see? I didn't know that.

Mercanaries / Hirelings:

Q: Why is it that after my mercenary dies he loses a good amount of movement speed and reflexes as well as attack damage? Q: Every time I revive my act5 merc, his damage decreases, and he becomes less aggressive. A: It is a bug, but it is a D2 bug. Merc passives are lost on death for the duration of the current game. Unfixable. (Answer by Brother Laz) (For version 1.95 test 3 and prior, See "Hireling is your Friend" linked thread for details on Merc passives For version 1.95 Release and after, mercs no longer have passives. The Hireling page on the ModsbyLaz homepage gives their skillsets.)

Q: Umm, my merc got stuck... A1: Try teleporting (Blinking, rather ) / using a Town Portal / Waypoint. If that doesn't 'fix them', ignore them or S&E. A2: Merc AI is bugged if you 'walk'. Blizzard never discovered this because who walks in d2 lololol. (A2 by Brother Laz)

An example:1) Although +% elemental damage boosts character screen damage for ranged weapon attacks and weapon damage explosions it actually doesn't. 2) Although -%<element> enemy resists do not show a damage increase on the LCS, they do in fact increase all damage of that element (regardless of whether it's delivered in melee, range, or by spell.), but only against non-immunes. And since the increase isn't global, it isn't reflected in the LCS.

Q: Are there any belts with more than 2 rows? A: Higher Tier belts have more rows. There we a confusion on how to create more rows for belts in higher tiers initially. Thankfully however this was fixed in Omega thanks to Rad82.

Also note that swapping to a tiered belt of any kind, and then swapping back will allow you to see the 2nd row, until you Save and Exit (or possibly die and retrieve your corpse).

Q: My gems are not upgraded by a Gem Shrine! A: You are playing an older version of the mod. Previous versions had shrines that did not upgrade your gems but not anymore. Again this was fixed by Rad82 in Omega.

Q: “Always use Unholy Combat Skills” modifier, (which exists on the Black Sun Spear SU,) what does it do? A: Sadly, nothing. But it’s supposed to let you use Black Sleep/Lemures/Blood Thorns/Shadowfiends without being in the Terror Strike state. Incidentally, there used to be a similar modifier back in ‘08 which allowed the use of retailatory skills without being struck.

Quest bugs:

Q: I activated Gidbinn fire, but no monsters show up. What now? A1: Step 1) Save and Exit, try again. If that doesn't work, Step 2) Reset your map*. A2: It's a bug that was around in cLoD too--sometimes the gidbinn flayer is spawned outside of the map, meaning you can't kill him and complete the quest. Blizzards fault, not Laz's. (* See below.)

Q: WTF? I just cleared the Den of Evil with my cold sorc and now quest log says I have to kill 654897 more mobs!! I mean WTF?! A: In short, shattered corpses ( obtained by killing frozen mobs) make D2 angry, that’s why old, non-ice immune Shenk was bugged and it’s the reason why the quest log says you have to kill 600K+mobs yet. Do the following: Save and exit, pick up a stick and whack the living daylights outta them, it’s the friggin’ Den of Evil what we’re talking about.

Q: I killed Shenk the Overseer (Act 5, 'Siege of Harrogath' target), but the quest isn't completed! A: Blame Blizzard's crappily coded quest. Folk wisdom cures: Do not use cold attacks. Shattering his corpse will not let the quest complete. Be sure that you killed him on the platform. Apparently he needs to die on it for the quest to complete.

Diablo 2 known bugs:

Q: I found a Waypoint, but I can't activate it. What gives? A: It's an occasional problem with D2 (Map generation?). Stand on the WP and open a TP, and the WP will become usable.

Version 1.10: Charges are considered Hard Points.

This is known as the Marrowalk bug.

Bug: The +% resist bonus(es) from Malah's "Scroll(s) of Resistance" is lost on death, until S&E.

This loss isn't shown on the LCS, though. This is known as the Anya Bug.

Bug: +%AR with ranged attacks.

To summarize the enormous TL;DR that this used to be: +%AR works fine on anything except +%AR on a skill. In such a case, any missiles will consider the +%AR to be +AR, and the LCS will lie, i.e. show % instead of # AR.

Bug: PDR/MDR Overflow, reducing the 'other' type too.

There’s this little thing in the game called the “PDR/MDR Overflow Mechanic”. We’re all pretty sure that it’s a bug, but as long as it exists and it isn’t game-breaking, we might as well benefit from it. A good thread about the topic can be found here. Anyway, the quick and easy explanation is that if you have TOO MUCH PDR OR MDR, then the extra will “overflow” until the end of the damage application equation and negate other types of damage.

An example. Let’s say you have 20 PDR, 0 MDR, and get hit by an attack that deals 10 physical and 10 fire damage.

actually ... it DOESN'T overflow, what happens is the game does the flat subtraction, but some fool forgot an max(0,x), so it yields a negative number, and what does the game do to negative damage? It turns it into + life <snip>, so technically superflous MDR & DR is turned in "+life when taking damage"(just that its added before the check to see if you've died)

From what I read, there's still a check at the end to make total damage >=0. It's just that this isn't done per type.

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